Chapter 5 — The Switched Heiress: The Battle for Wealth

The party went smoothly for nearly the first two hours. The professional MC smoothly led the program, congratulations from major shareholders and strategic partners were announced one after another, the three-tiered birthday cake was presented amid bustling applause, and Khanh Thi, in a sparkling yellow dress, smiled and cut each slice of cake to invite guests with the radiance of a girl who had just entered adulthood.

Bich Van stood near the stage, holding a glass of wine without taking a sip, her eyes constantly observing Diem Thu sitting at the guest of honor table, not far away. Diem Thu seemed unusually restless, constantly looking at the clock, occasionally glancing towards Hoai Nam who was standing and chatting with a group of major shareholders in the corner of the room. There was a brief exchange of glances between the two that, if not paying close attention, would have been easy to miss — but Bich Van, with her vigilance honed over eighteen years, didn't miss any of the details.

When the MC invited representatives of the family's closest people to give congratulatory speeches, according to the prepared script, the first person invited was Sai Diem Thu - as Bich Van's best friend, who had been with the family since the first days. Diem Thu stood up, adjusted her skirt, and walked onto the stage with slow but somewhat stiff steps, unlike her usual natural appearance.

She stood in front of the microphone, looking down at the crowd of hundreds of people waiting for the usual congratulations. But instead, Diem Thu took a deep breath, clenched her hands on the microphone until they turned white, and then began to speak in a shaky but fierce voice.

"Sorry everyone, I know this is not what you expected to hear at such a fun birthday party. But I cannot continue to stay silent any longer. There is a truth that has been hidden for eighteen years, a truth directly related to the true bloodline of the heir to the Truong Phat Group."

The entire banquet hall immediately fell silent. The background music stopped completely following the hasty command of the sound coordinator, hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to the stage, where Diem Thu stood with a pale face but strangely determined eyes.

"Eighteen years ago, Ms. Bich Van and I gave birth at Hong Phuc Obstetrics Hospital, less than a day apart. That night, there was an exchange between our two newborns, an intentional exchange, not a mistake." Diem Thu's voice trembled, but she still tried to hold on, her eyes quickly glanced towards Hoai Nam who was standing silently in the corner of the room as if looking for hidden encouragement. "The child that Ms. Bich Van raised for the past eighteen years, whose birthday we are celebrating today — Ton Khanh Thi — is not her biological child. Ms. Bich Van's real biological daughter is Sai Han Nghi, my daughter, whom I have raised for the past eighteen years in the belief that she is my biological child."

Whispers rose throughout the banquet hall like an underground wave. Hundreds of stunned faces turned to look at each other. Some guests quickly took out their phones, not sure whether to record or text someone about the shocking news that had just been revealed. Khanh Thi stood near the stage, her face pale, her eyes wide open in disbelief at what she had just heard, her hands clutching her skirt so tightly that they were trembling.

"I know this is a big shock," Diem Thu continued, her voice starting to crack with emotion, "but I have proof. I quietly did a DNA test for my daughter - Han Nghi - three months ago, after accidentally discovering some unusual details in old medical records. The results showed that she was directly related to the Chuong family, completely matching the family's unique genetic indicators. I kept silent for the past three months because I don't know what to do, for fear of hurting the friendship between me and Ms. Bich Van. But I cannot let my biological daughter continue to be deprived of her legitimate rights, the right to be recognized as a true descendant of the Chuong family, the right to inherit what belongs to her."

She signaled with her hand, and from below the stage, an assistant - clearly prepared in advance - stepped up and handed Diem Thu a file. Diem Thu held up the file in front of the cameras of several business reporters invited to cover the party, who were now attentively recording every moment of a story that went far beyond a typical birthday newsletter.

"This is the result of a DNA test performed at a reputable, fully legal testing center. I also have testimonies from a number of witnesses related to the incident that happened at the hospital eighteen years ago. I don't want to make this noisy, but I believe that my daughter - Han Nghi - deserves to know the truth about her identity, and deserves to have her legal inheritance recognized at Chuong Phat Group, commensurate with the real blood flowing in her. baby."

Sai Han Nghi, sitting at the guest table below, stood up, her face extremely confused, clearly she did not completely know that her mother's plan would be carried out in such a public and shocking way. She looked at her mother on stage, then looked at Khanh Thi standing nearby, her eyes filled with panic and confusion.

A few older board members sitting in the front row began whispering to each other, looking at Bich Van as if wondering how this news would affect the group's stock price the next morning. An older man, a veteran member of the council, slightly leaned aside and whispered to the person sitting next to him that if this news was true, the entire power structure of the corporation might have to be reconsidered from the beginning, because the company's founding charter clearly stipulated that the right to control dominant shares could only be given to direct descendants of the Chuong family.

Behind the crowd, reporters began calling to report to the editorial office, camera lenses pointed straight at the stage non-stop. A young editor standing near the door whispered to his colleagues that this would probably be the most shocking news among the city's business community in recent years, a story capable of occupying the front page of every economic newspaper the next morning.

Khanh Thi stood petrified in the middle of the stage, feeling like the entire ground beneath her feet had just collapsed. She looked around, saw hundreds of eyes focused on her with all kinds of emotions — curiosity, pity, skepticism — and in that moment, she just wished she could disappear from this room, from all the bright lights and whispers surrounding her from all sides. She looked for her mother's eyes in the crowd, hoping for reassurance, but Bich Van had already begun to take her first steps towards the stage, her face carrying a fierce look that Khanh Thi had never seen before.

Bich Van stood silently in the middle of the crowd, observing the entire development with an amazing calmness that no one among the people around could understand how she could maintain that attitude in the face of such a shocking accusation. But only Trac Minh Thu, standing not far away, clearly understood that this was the moment that Bich Van had been waiting for, preparing for, for eighteen long years.

She looked at Hoai Nam standing in the corner of the room. He still maintained the reasonable shock on his face of a husband and father who had just heard shocking news, but there was a very short moment, less than a second, when his eyes met Bich Van's eyes, she saw in them not confusion but a cold calculation, carefully examining her reaction.

That was the moment Bich Van knew for sure, without any doubt, that the real battle of tonight was not simply between her and Diem Thu.

She put the wine glass down on the nearby table, adjusted her ao dai, and began to take her first steps towards the stage, where Diem Thu was still standing, holding a file in her trembling hand, waiting for a reaction from her close friend - the person she was sure would only be able to stand there dumbfounded, helpless in front of the evidence she had so painstakingly prepared.

But Diem Thu could not have imagined that the woman stepping onto the stage had been waiting for this moment for eighteen years, and she was ready for everything that was about to happen next.